Federal Sites
The internet can be an excellent source of criminal justice information, mostly because criminal justice is usually a function of governments which are required to share their information. Here are some sites to get you started. It's by no means a complete list. If you know of other sites that you think would be helpful, please let me know.
The CIA’s Family Jewels [pdf]
The National Security Archive at George Washington University has been bringing important documents to the general public’s attention for years, and they recently finally received a copy of the CIA’s “family jewels” report from the 1970s. They had originally filed a request for the document in 1992, and on June 26th, 2007 CIA officers finally brought the document to their headquarters. James Schlesinger, director of the CIA at the time, started the actual “family jewels” operation in 1973. Noted journalist Seymour Hersh reported on the story of this illegal domestic operation in 1974, and his investigation also revealed that the CIA had been involved in wiretapping and various break-ins since the 1950s. The document can be viewed in its entirety here, and interested parties can also search the entire document by keywords. (Description from The Scout Report)
Crime, Prisons, and Corrections from USA.gov
Includes:
- America's Most Wanted Criminals
- Corrections Departments by State
- Fugitives and Missing Persons
- Identity Theft Information
- Inmate Locator
- Law Enforcement Bulletin from the FBI
- Missing Children
- Parole Commission Frequently Asked Questions
- Prison Locator
- Prison Quick Facts
- Prisoner Locator – Locate and visit inmates in federal prisons
- Prisoner Locator for State, County, or City Correctional Facilities
- Statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice
- Uniform Crime Reports from the FBI
Federal Criminal Justice Agencies
A good list of federal agency links from the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation.
Created by an act of Congress in 1967, the Federal Judicial Center has served as a clearinghouse of information about the federal court system for four decades. While the Center is physically based in Washington, DC, their website brings information about the court system, its history, and its judges to any interested parties with access to the Internet. From their homepage, visitors can go straight to one of the primary sections, which include “Federal Judicial History”, “Publications & Videos”, and “Educational Programs & Materials”. In the “Publications & Videos” area, visitors can use the search engine to look for specific items of interest, or they can also browse the archive’s contents by subject or by date of publication. Recent additions have included the updated second edition of the copyright law statutes to the proceedings of a roundtable discussion on the use of technology to facilitate appearances in bankruptcy proceedings. For most visitors, the “Federal Judicial History” will be of greatest interest, as it contains biographies of federal judges since 1789, the histories of individual courts, and summaries of landmark decisions. (Description from The Scout Report)
Law Enforcement and Corrections-Related Agencies from USA.gov
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
"The mission of the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) is to facilitate research in criminal justice and criminology, through the preservation, enhancement, and sharing of computerized data resources; through the production of original research based on archived data; and through specialized training workshops in quantitative analysis of crime and justice data."
National Criminal Justice Reference Service
"NCJRS is a federally funded resource offering justice and substance abuse information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide."
The website of the government agency that deals with criminal justice issues at the federal level. Particularly useful are reports and websites about national criminal justice issues, such as civil rights, youth violence, domestic violence, immigration, and federal prisons. Some criminal justice agencies that fall under DOJ are:
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- Federal Bureau of Prisons
- National Criminal Justice Research Service - an excellent resource for authoritative reports and statistics on a wide range of criminal justice topics, including drugs, juvenile justice, and crime victims.
- National Institute of Justice - the research and evaluation agency of DOJ
- Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
U. S. Department of Homeland Security
Organized in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the DHS comprises 22 federal agencies brought together in attempt to coordinate federal security issues. Some of the criminal justice agencies included in DHS are: